1.3 Drifting Continents



Vocabulary



Pangaea- a supercontinent that existed 300 million years ago.
Continental drift- the movement of continents over time.
fossil-any trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock.


Outline


Summary

  • Africa and South America look like they fit together

The Theory of continental drift

  • Evidence from landforms
    • used mountains (Africa and South America)
    • used coalfields

Evidence from fossils

  • common fossils found on distant continents

Evidence from climate

  • continents today have very different climates from millions of years ago
  • glacier marks in Africa
  • Tropical plants in Spitsbergen

Scientists reject Wegener's theory

  • didn't have proof of how continents drifted
  • needed new explanations with what caused mountains and continents to form .